


A Helping Hand

by camichats



Category: Marvel
Genre: Bucky Barnes & Winter Soldier are Different Personalities, Canon-Typical Violence, Getting Together, Kidnapped Tony Stark, M/M, Soulmates, Young Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2019-08-02
Packaged: 2020-07-29 20:23:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20088220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/camichats/pseuds/camichats
Summary: Winter's on what is basically a filler mission, and he helps the random guy that just escaped a kidnapping.(Tony Stark Bingo R5-On the Run)





	A Helping Hand

Winter was walking down the road, slowly making his way back to the motel where he was currently staying. Hydra must be truly desperate to bring him out of cryo for _ this_: drinking at a bar for weeks with the vague hope that the arms dealer they were looking for would drop by. They'd asked Winter what he thought the chances of success were, and he'd told them it was less than a percent. They still sent him out here. So Winter spent his days watching soap operas, and his nights at the bar, sipping slowly on beers he'd sooner dump down a drain than enjoy. He made the occasional trip to a supermarket for food. It was monotonous, and he hated it. 

Someone was running at him. Wait, no. They were running _ away _ from someone, and they happened to be coming his direction. 

**Help them**, Bucky urged, and Winter rolled his eyes. How was he supposed to know who needed help? **The one running needs help you asshole** _ . _ But what if they stole something and that's why they're being chased? **Then they'll explain as soon as you step in, but if they're going to hurt the other fella, they won't be able to think of an excuse in time. Probably.**

"You're so dramatic," Winter grumbled, picking up the pace a little. Truth be told, he was excited that _ anything _ was happening during this mission. As they got closer, Winter could see the sickly cast on the figure running towards them. A man, but he was young, maybe college aged. It was too early to judge what was happening- oh. He saw the man chasing him, and knew that the one running needed help. He hated when Bucky was right. Neither of them had spotted him yet, the lack of streetlights blinding them to what his enhanced senses could cut through. 

The one running noticed him when he ran straight into him, bouncing away with an almost comical effect. He looked up at Winter, then frantically behind him; he'd lost what little lead he'd had. He was, Winter noticed with his heart thumping too loudly in his chest, cute. Absolutely fucking adorable, with big brown eyes that made Winter want to roll him in a blanket cocoon and do sappy things like handfeed him strawberries and kiss his cheeks. He didn't know why that feeling was so loud, but he wasn't going to ignore it. Winter shoved the man behind him, keeping him there with his metal hand. With the other, he whipped out his gun, stopping the pursuer dead in his tracks-- so to speak-- when Winter pressed the warm metal of the barrel to the man's forehead. 

He swallowed nervously and tried to reason with him. "Listen man, I don't know what he told you, but he's a junkie. I'm his friend, I'm just trying to help him get clean." 

"He's lying," the other man said from behind Winter, not that he needed to be told that to recognize a liar when he saw one. 

"You're either leaving empty handed, or you're not leaving." 

He started to reach for a weapon, and Winter pulled the trigger. It was too loud in the otherwise silent night, and the one he was protecting flinched. 

"Are you hurt?" Winter asked, not turning around because the man was clinging to his hand and leaning heavily against him. 

"No," he said, voice small. 

"Do you want me to take you home?" 

"I don't even know where we are." 

"Hale." When there was no recognition, he added, "Minnesota." 

"_Fuck_." 

"I take it you don't live in this state." 

"No. God _ damn _ it." 

"Do you have someone who can come get you?" **'Come get you'?** Bucky repeated. **The hell's the matter with you? He needs help! Fuck Hydra, we can't just let him wander off, he's going to get hurt.**

"Yes, but it's not like I have any way of contacting them." 

"There's a phone in my motel room," Winter heard himself offer, "you can use it." 

"I- um. I'm not sure that's- uh- necessary, I'll be fine." Winter could feel his head turn so that he was looking at the body bleeding onto the street. 

"Okay," Winter said easily, even as Bucky scolded him for being so uncaring. He turned around to face the other man, intending to point him towards the nearest public space that had a phone he might be able to use. But the man hadn't been prepared for him to let go and move, and he stumbled. Winter caught him before he could fall all the way over, his flesh and blood hand making contact with the bare skin of the man's arm. It was like a fire against his skin if the pain was taken away-- just an intense warmth that bled from under the skin of his palm to brand his handprint into the other's skin. 

All the breath left him in a woosh. Hand shaking, he moved it to the back of Winter's hand, marking him in kind. His soulmate, a red colored outline curving over the edges of his hand to creep onto his wrist. The man swallowed reflexively. "You're my soulmate, and- and you'd won't hurt me, right?" 

"Never," he answered immediately, ignoring the smug feeling Bucky was radiating. 

"In that case, I'd love to use your phone." 

Winter nodded. 

"My name's Tony. By the way." 

Moving slowly, he put a protective arm around Tony's shoulders, pulling him into his side so it was easy to feel the warmth of his body-- pulsing and _ alive_. "Winter." 

"Your name's Winter? Like the season?" 

"I didn't pick it," he grumbled. Officially, it was short for Winter Soldier which meant Hydra had given him the name, but that was more of a designation than anything else. Bucky was the one that had made it into a name, wanting some way of addressing him that didn't make him sound like an object. 

Tony laughed. It was strained, but he'd been kidnapped, and Winter wasn't used to people laughing at what he said anyways. "Yeah, I feel that." 

It warmed Winter to have Tony so obviously not be afraid of him, starting in his chest and blooming outwards. **Awww**, Bucky said obnoxiously, **you're in loooove.**


End file.
